YouTube stopped feeling "fun"? Try this.

Hey,

Ever been stuck in a YouTube scriptwriting rut?

Where each paragraph feels completely soul-sucking and the result is a hot mess?

Me too.

So here are three tried-and-tested ways to get out of a YouTube funk:

1/ Set Constraints

One of my students, Martin, had become frustrated that he would always get "carried away" with the script.

I can't seem to find a good way of doing a simple [script] outline... I end up coming up with good hooks, sentences that flow well and since I'll never remember them when I riff… it becomes easier to script the whole thing. - Martin

But this was making the process unsustainable.

Not only was this taking way more time, but he actually felt constrained by the word-for-word scripts he’d end up with.

So here's a quick exercise to force you to write scripts faster.

1. Pick a "safe" topic similar to a video you’ve made before.
2. Challenge yourself to a 10-minute brainstorm. In that time, create a super basic bullet point structure - maybe as few as 1 bullet point per segment.
3. Limit yourself to a 50-minute script editing session. Bulk out the most important parts first.

From here, yes - you can spend more time on the script.

But by acting as though you only have 60 minutes in total, you’ll be surprised how much LESS you overthink.

The priority is getting draft 1 finished without pausing to perfect each sentence.

Once you’ve practised this with your “safe” topics, you’ll find it easier to repeat with any video.

2/ Do Something For You

Meet another student of mine, Jeff.

An uber-talented guitar teacher, Jeff was looking for ways to inject new forms of creativity into his videos to prevent the process from becoming "stale".

So he:

1. Found a hill.
2. Walked up it.
3. Recorded a guitar lesson in a field.

There's plenty of evidence to show that changing environment contributes to improved mental well-being, and studies suggest a positive correlation between well-being and productivity.

Plus, ‘Attention Restoration Theory’ tells us that natural environments are amazing for replenishing cognitive function and reducing brain fog.

Now that's how you put the ‘content’ back into ‘content’. (This joke works better out loud.)

So, if you can - why not film your next video somewhere totally different?

By the way, if you’re interested in joining Martin, Jeff and 150+ scriptwriting-focused YouTubers inside my scriptwriting community, you can learn more about YTSP Pro here.

3/ Take the Pressure Off

Let's end on this quick nugget of wisdom from O.G. YouTube strategist, Denver Moore:

As he puts it, every YouTuber should "have a channel where you don’t have to care what people think."

It goes without saying: give your audience what they want on your main channel.

Meanwhile, test crazy strategies and experiment creatively on your second channel - without giving a *cough* about what people think.

The only rule?

Just have fun with it.

Matt D’Avella recently started a second channel here for exactly this reason.

This comes shortly after the release of this video, where he explains the dwindling creativity and diminished passion that comes with scaling a YouTube channel.

Remove the stakes, and you’ll remove the stress!

So there it is - your blueprint to revitalised YouTube zest:

1. Constrain the time you're allowed to spend scripting.
2. Film in a new location.
3. Experiment freely on a second channel.

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Anyway, that's all for this week!

I wanna know - have you tried any of these strategies before? Hit reply and let me know!

Next week, I'm diving into the most common hook problems students from my scriptwriting community have experienced (and how we fixed them)!

Speak soon,
George 👋

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